Markets recover lost ground

Yesterday saw European markets follow overnight gains on Asian markets to recover more of the ground lost earlier in the week.

US reporting season continued at pace, with Apple reporting better-than-expected Q1 results overnight on Tuesday. This trend continued as Caterpillar reported solid numbers before US trading yesterday morning. On the back of this, the ISEQ index closed up 39.44 points at 3217.95.

Bank stocks were broadly worse on the day as both AIB and Irish Life & Permanent lost ground. The former shed 0.3c to 7c, while the latter gave up 0.3c to close at 3.2c. Bank of Ireland remained steady at 11.2c.